Delivering on Mozilla’s mission

Mozilla's mission is to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web.

Firefox and the Web platform have been the primary way that Mozilla has delivered on our mission. Firefox led the way to kick-start choice, competition and innovation in Web browsers, and in catalyzing the development of Web standards that have unleashed massive innovation.

We've entered a new phase of Internet life. People are experiencing the Internet from a wide variety of mobile devices, using touch, voice and other new interfaces. Their Internet experiences have become inherently social.

Along with the development of these new experiences, new Internet ecosystems have developed that are not very much like the Web: ecosystem owners seek to lock in users to vertically integrated stack of hardware, software, identity and services, rather than enable choice, competition and innovation at each of these layers.

Mozilla can and must continue to empower people with choice and control over their online lives and give developers the power and freedom to innovate and realize their creative potential.

A people-centered experience powered by the Web

A people-centered experience powered by the Web (technology and principles!) that includes mobile devices doesn't exist and is sorely needed. Mozilla must lead the way, because we are the only organization who has no interest in or motivation to “own” the user; we believe the user is sovereign. A people-centered system would enable users to identify themselves to websites and apps on their own terms; to take their apps easily from one OS to another; to only disclose what they want about themselves in proportion to the value they receive.

A people-centered experience must be built on Web technology and principles. Only Web technology can enable developers to build applications that can reach users wherever they are, through the ubiquity of HTML5 and JavaScript. Only Web principles enable a level playing field without gatekeepers.

Roadmap

Firefox - Discover, experience and connect on your own terms

As always, this starts with delivering on the key Firefox attributes of performance, stability and security. There are a series of features and ongoing performance and responsiveness programs to improve start-up speed, JavaScript performance, graphics performance and overall browser responsiveness.

The Web has become inherently social. The browser is not yet playing a significant role in enabling the social experience. Firefox will begin to enable easy sharing and a more social browsing experience.

Mozilla’s identity and apps efforts are designed to be open and work with any modern browser. However, Firefox can and will tightly integrate these features into Firefox to enable richer Firefox experiences and to help launch these new platforms to a broad user and developer audience.

Firefox for Android - Fast and personalized, with leading HTML5 support

Firefox for Android is off to a good start, but there is more to do. Start-up speed and overall responsiveness of the user interface can be made faster. We will release a major performance update for smartphones and tablets that greatly improves start-up time and panning performance. The user experience will feel much more integrated with the Android environment.

Firefox for Android will also leverage the work on enabling Web APIs in Gecko to enable amazing HTML5 apps. Touch events, local storage and app cache, access to the camera from a Web page are all examples of this. We will also incorporate more privacy and security controls, protecting users from malware and phishing attacks and supporting Private Browsing. We will also improve the reading experience and make Sync much easier to set up.

HTML5, CSS and JavaScript continue to enable amazing websites and apps, but there’s more to be done to support the most cutting-edge, high-performance apps, especially on mobile devices. Mozilla must continue to lead the Web platform forward by enabling access to the hardware, communications and connectivity capabilities of smartphones and tablets (camera, SMS, telephony), make it easy for app developers to build “instant-on” apps that run as well offline as they do online (improve app cache and local storage), and enable rich media support and interactivity at high frame-rates.

The Web must be made easier to develop for than proprietary platforms. One way in which Mozilla helps keep the Web out in front is by making Firefox the best dynamic environment for building modern Web applications. We must bundle tools for the most common tasks (page styling, JavaScript debugging, viewing details of network requests and page resources)

Beyond delivering on great new tools, we will also create a coherent tools plan for add-ons, apps and mobile (working with the other teams in those areas) and continue to engage Web developers in building the best tools for Firefox.

Open app ecosystem - Develop and distribute apps on your own terms

HTML5 is a compelling technology for developing apps, and is quickly improving. Combined with the freedom to build what you want and distribute it directly to users on your own terms, it has great potential. But just as there are gaps to be filled from a technology point of view, there are gaps to be filled from an ecosystem point of view. The Web lacks standard, consistent ways to find, rate, review, purchase and prove ownership of apps. Mozilla’s goal is to foster an ecosystem that combines the best elements of the Web with the best elements of the app model.

To that end, we built new APIs that make the Web more powerful and will work with the community and industry on common standards for apps that will run well in any modern browser, that support multiple app stores, direct distribution of apps by app developers, app portability and true end-user ownership of their apps.

We will also build a Marketplace for apps that work across desktops, phones and tablets. Through this Marketplace, developers will be able to distribute and monetize their apps. Users will be able to find, install and use their Apps across all of their devices, regardless of the underlying device/OS platforms. This Marketplace will also be a single destination where users can find both cross-platform Apps and Firefox extensions.

BrowserID - an identity system for the Web

Central to a people-centered ecosystem is an identity system that is under the complete control of the individual and enables information sharing on the user’s own terms with no take-it-or-leave-it policies. BrowserID is a very easy way to log into web sites by proving you own an email address. BrowserID is designed to be tightly integrated into your Web browser for ease-of-use, and it is designed to protect your privacy: the only data exchanged is that which is strictly necessary to log in. We are working to standardize it so that other browser vendors can, if they choose, easily integrate it. In the meantime, Mozilla provides a simple JavaScript mechanism that lets websites use BrowserID right away, across all modern browsers, on desktop and on mobile.

BrowserID makes it easier for users to register at new websites and subsequently log back into those sites, using any email address they choose. Users are free to use different email addresses for different purposes, and the process of signing in becomes easier and safer. Users maintain complete control over their identity, only now they have fewer passwords to remember.

Boot to Gecko - Enabling Web-powered mobile phones

A truly Web-based OS for mobile phones and tablets would enable the ultimate in user choice and developer opportunity, both from a technology and an ecosystem point of view. Boot to Gecko is a project to build a OS that runs HTML5, JavaScript and CSS directly on device hardware without the need for an intermediate OS layer. The system will include a rich user experience, new APIs that expose the power of modern mobile phones through simple JavaScript interfaces; a privilege model to safely and consistently deliver these capabilities to websites and apps with the user in control. Boot to Gecko leverages BrowserID, the Open Web app ecosystem and an identity and apps model that puts users and developers in control.

Firefox is Mozilla's expression of our manifesto and mission; it represents our vision of a people-centric Web experience, as well as a platform that makes it possible to do amazing things with the Web.

This roadmap outlines the current direction for Firefox Platform development through 2015. The following document is subject to change at anytime. It is also not a commitment to ship a features but rather an intent to implement and land them on by default in the nightly version of Firefox unless otherwise stated.

For 2012, we will be working on two primary initiatives: launching the Add-on Builder website in its current state and transitioning the product to a more generic Web Builder to support rapid development of all developer-facing Mozilla platforms (add-ons, apps, etc.)

The web must be easier to develop for than proprietary platforms. One way in which Mozilla helps keep the web out in front is by making Firefox the best dynamic environment for building modern web applications. In 2012, we'll build on the momentum started in 2011 to deliver a useful and easy-to-use suite of tools.

The vision behind Mozilla's 2012 privacy roadmap is focused on users : calling for increased anonymity on the web, starting with sensible privacy defaults, giving users the ability to make informed choices about disclosing their information, facilitating web transparency so users understand how their data is being collected and used, and allowing for flexibility while maintaining sensible baselines for those who are not concerned with privacy.

Mozilla is working on making the Web the premier platform and marketplace for the next generation of Apps. We plan to do this by establishing a user-centric Apps ecosystem that provides freedom, choice and opportunity for users and developers. This document outlines the current strategy and direction for the Mozilla Apps project through 2012